


The Oblivious Genius

by amcsummersgoddess



Category: Halex - Fandom
Genre: Hank is oblivious, Happy Ending, M/M, Slight unintentional angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 04:56:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15112229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amcsummersgoddess/pseuds/amcsummersgoddess
Summary: Five things about Alex that annoyed Hank and the one thing that doesn’t.





	The Oblivious Genius

**Author's Note:**

> 5+1 I thought up in the shower and wrote most of it at 12 in the morning. Enjoy!!!

i. He was stubborn 

Hank gritted his teeth and bit back his anger as Alex continued to touch nearly every single thing in the lab. Normally, Hank wouldn’t mind, but _everything_ included Hank’s microscope lens which most people knew you shouldn’t touch since it’d get dirty but Hank had to remember Alex wasn’t just anyone, he was Alex. Why Alex was in the lab in the first place, Hank had no idea, but he just wanted him _out_. 

“I can’t see anything out of this thing.” Alex squinted into the microscope and started to frown, “You should clean it.” Hank rolled his eyes, not that Alex could see. _Of course_ Hank should clean it, he just cleaned it, but Alex had to come in here and touch everything with his grubby hands and get it dirty. “What are you working on anyway? It looks weird,” he scrunched up his nose and looked over at Hank for an answer. 

“Nothing,” Hank muttered and went over to his cabinet to grab a cotton pad and rubbing alcohol. Hank wasn’t going to tell him that he was working on a serum to make his feet look normal, Alex didn’t need to know that. He held the contents in his hand and rubbed at the lens of the microscope. He shouldn’t have to clean that for a few more months, if he’s lucky. 

“Great then fix my plate,” Alex demanded and Hank cocked an eyebrow.

“Alex, I have work to do. I can’t just stop what I’m doing.”

“I thought you were doing nothing,” he retorted with a smile and Hank wanted to punch Alex in his pretty white teeth. He would like Alex’s smile a lot more if he saw it after an actual joke, or something that was funny, not calling Hank one of his many names Alex had given him. “So are you going to work on it Bozo or what?” Alex’s smile shone brighter then and Hank had to look away since he might actually punch him if he looked much longer. 

Hank let out a heavy sigh. Did he have much of a choice? He had to make everyone’s suits anyway, Alex had the most difficult one and maybe fixing his plate sooner will get him out of his hair. “Sure, just hand it to me and I’ll get started on it.” Alex grinned proudly since he knew he won. Hank hated him for it. 

ii. Sitting next to him 

Friday nights had become traditionally movie night around the mansion. Charles had a whole wall of movies and Raven said that they would get through all of them by the end of the year. So far, they’ve gotten through ten and they were all silent films (surprisingly Sean’s pick as he seemed to be keen on them) and this week was Raven’s pick. 

As they all settled down on the couch with bowls of popcorn and _Jaws_ playing on the TV (Raven commented how the shark looked like Erik which resulted in everyone laughing and agreeing but Erik) Alex decided that Hank’s arm was a comfortable arm rest and Hank’s legs were the perfect leg rest too. 

“What are you doing?” Hank shrugged his arm away from Alex’s weight but kept his legs where they were, he didn’t have anywhere else to put them since he didn’t want to get Charles’ coffee table dirty. Unlike some people, Hank had common curiosity and knew not to get things dirty that weren’t his. 

“Getting comfortable,” Alex moved his legs up and rested them on Hank’s lap where they were immediately pushed off of. “Hey! I’m trying to watch here,” he put his feet back on Hank’s lap and held his heels firmly against the couch cushion so Hank had no way of pushing him off again. 

Hank tried his absolute best to ignore Alex and focus on the movie, but Alex was crunching on his popcorn directly in Hank’s ear. 

“Do you mind?”

Alex took his eyes away from the screen and looked over at Hank with a slightly confused expression, still eating his popcorn. “Mind what?”

Hank pinched the bridge of his nose. Alex wasn’t stupid and he had to have some sort of self awareness about what he was doing. Or he probably does know what he was doing and didn’t care. That had to be it. 

“Just..never mind,” he looked back at the movie and felt Alex’s legs shift in his lap as well as Alex himself. Before Hank knew it, Alex’s elbow was jabbing into his ribs and his head was resting against his shoulder. Hank caught a whiff of his shampoo and it smelled like berries and vanilla, not that he liked the smell or anything, just the aroma from Alex’s movements made the smell go into his senses. 

Hank rested his popcorn bowl on his left leg since his right one was occupied by Alex’s waist. He was practically sitting in his lap. Lovely. 

As much as Alex sitting on Hank bothered him, what bothered him even more was the fact that Alex was starting to eat Hank’s popcorn too. “Really?” Hank asked without even bothering to hide his annoyance as Alex took a large handful of his popcorn and started eating it, the munching in his ear returning. 

“I ran out.”

“So go get some more,” Hank grumbled as he moved his popcorn bowl out of Alex’s reach. 

Alex looked up at Hank with an amused expression. “It’s called sharing you know,” he teased and Hank didn’t hide rolling his eyes this time, making Alex laugh as he grabbed another handful of his popcorn. It was going to be a long night.

iii. When he “helps out”

“Hey Bozo.” Hank really should start locking the lab door. “Whatcha working on?” Alex came over next to Hank and peered over his shoulder. “Anything I can help with?”

Hank snorted. Did Alex seriously just ask him that? “No-Alex, what are you doing?” He looked over to see Alex was standing in front of his whiteboard, starting to erase the equations he had written down. “Those are important!”

“Relax, Hank,” Alex flashed him a smile as he started to rewrite exactly what Hank just had written down before but in neater writing. “Your handwriting is so sloppy, how can you read it?” 

“Because it’s my own writing,” Hank stated dryly and took the marker out of Alex’s hand. “Please, do not touch my equations or anything for that matter,” he said politely as possible. 

“There’s nothing I can help with?” Alex licked his lips as a devilish grin started to spread across his face. “Nothing at all?” Hank stared down at Alex weirdly and took a step back, studying his written equations on the board. He squinted as he read his own writing. Was it really _that_ bad?

“What’s this do?” Hank turned to see Alex was standing by more of his lab equipment, tossing a Bunsen burner in his hands as if it were a ball. 

“It’s an adjustable gas burner,” he explained and Alex looked at it like it was a foreign object. “It heats things up, sometimes used for when people go camping.” Alex gave a nod of his head and set it down on the table, going over to Hank’s rows of test tubes, studying them. 

“What’s this brown stuff?” Alex took the test tube out of the tray and held it up to the light, trying to figure out what it was. 

“Toilet water.”

Alex cracked a smile. “You’re a neat freak, I highly doubt you’d go into a toilet to get a sample of the water.” Hank opened his mouth to refute Alex’s comment, but he was right. How Alex knew that information about him, Hank couldn’t tell you since he didn’t know the answer himself.

Because Hank was a supposed neat freak, Alex dropping the test tube he was holding and spilling the contents on the floor along with glass, aggravated Hank to the core. 

“I’ll help you clean that.” Was Alex’s apology. Maybe if Alex never ‘helped out’ in the first place, the test tube would’ve never been broken. Hank would never say that, even though Alex had probably said worse to him, instead he helped clean the mess up and slapped Alex’s hand away from the glass when he tried to pick it up. 

“Don’t touch it! You could get a glass splinter!” 

“Well how else are you supposed to clean it up?” Hank rolled his eyes yet again and got up to grab some paper towel and a broom. 

He wasn’t the least bit surprised that he had to dig out five pieces of glass out of Alex’s hand when he was done cleaning.

 

iv. No concept of personal space

Alex insisted on taking Hank to the city (claimed Hank needed to get out more) and he knew Alex wouldn’t take no for an answer so he went with him. Alex got them a cab even though Charles had a bunch of cars that they could’ve easily driven, but he insisted on taking a taxi. 

Normally, Hank wouldn’t care, but Alex had sat a bit too close to him even though there was enough space for them to have room and be comfortable. 

“You know you have more space over there,” Hank gestured to the other side of the cab where the seat was open, “you don’t have to crowd me.” Alex shrugged in response and looked out the window. Hank sighed and tried his best to scoot away, but Alex stuck to him like glue. 

When they got out of the taxi, Hank thought he’d get some freedom, but Alex looped their arms together and dragged Hank down five blocks to this diner. He sat them down in a booth and ordered for Hank. “You’re going to eat it too,” Alex said firmly when the waitress walked away.

“Fine,” Hank sighed and looked around the diner, focusing on the different paintings plastered against the wall. 

“You’ve been grumpy lately,” Alex pointed out and Hank looked at him with an annoyed expression. “What’s your problem?” 

“Nothing,” he mumbled.

“Sure it is.” Alex nudged his elbow against his. “Seriously Hank, what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” Hank repeated and Alex kept nudging and asking, even after their food came. Hank felt his temper rising and he stared down at his uneaten burger and fries that Alex ordered for him and pushed the plate away. “I need some air,” he announced and slid out of the booth and went outside to just catch a break. 

Why was Alex being so _clingy_ lately? He always seemed to be in the same room as Hank and never really left him alone. Maybe it was Alex trying to annoy Hank more than he was before, that had to be it. 

Hank eventually went back in the diner and Alex was looking at him cautiously as he continued to eat his own food. “You okay? We can go home if you want.” Hank didn’t even want to leave in the first place, of course he wanted to go home. 

“I never wanted to go out with you in the first place,” Hank chided without even realizing it. Alex stopped eating and wiped his hands on a napkin before reaching into his wallet to drop a twenty on the table before walking out of the diner. Hank went after him and saw Alex sitting on a bench, head in his hands. He approached him and took a seat next to him. “I didn’t mean that.”

“Bullshit,” Alex croaked out and looked up at him with an angered expression but his eyes swam with hurt. “I just thought,” he began but quickly shook his head, “never mind. Just leave me alone,” he got up from the bench and walked away. Hank didn’t go after him. 

v. When he avoided him

Hank didn’t see Alex much after that, or at all. He stopped coming down to meals and avoided his training with Charles. Without Alex distracting him though, Hank did have time to finish fixing his plate and went up to Alex’s room to hand it to him. 

He didn’t receive a reply when he knocked on the door so he set the plate down against the wall. “Alex, your plate’s done. If you want, we could go test it out later?” Hank didn’t receive a reply again and he took that as his cue to leave, his heart heavy in his chest.

-  
i. Nothing 

Hank heard the sound of his lab door opening and he hoped it was Alex that was coming in, but when he turned his head, he saw it was Charles. He gave a small smile at the professor who looked at Hank seriously. “I think you should go talk to Alex,” Charles said in his parental tone that he commonly used when something was wrong.

“He won’t talk to me.”

“So try again,” Charles said with a small smile before leaving Hank be. 

Hank knew what he had to do. He went upstairs to Alex’s room again, his plate was gone so he did come out of his room at least once to get it, and knocked on the door. 

To his surprise, the door opened. 

“What?” Alex looked annoyed at Hank’s presence and the hurt was still very much present on his face. 

“I-I’m sorry.” 

Alex rolled his eyes. “You shouldn’t be sorry for how you feel,” he started to close the door and Hank stopped it with his hand. 

“What do you mean?” Alex looked like he was about to punch Hank in the face. 

“Are you honestly that oblivious?” Hank opened his mouth to reply but Alex kept talking. “It was a rhetorical question, Bozo. Me, wanting to go out with you and be with you when _you_ didn’t want to, was my attempts at _flirting_ with you.”

“Oh.” Hank felt dumbfounded. 

He started to remember the time he spent with Alex. Alex smiled around him more than he did with others, he _cuddled_ with him when he was given the opportunity, Alex took Hank out on a date and Hank told him he didn’t even want to go out with him. 

Alex liked him. 

“You like me,” he stated and Alex’s eye roll practically screamed “Yeah no shit.” Hank started to smile and took a step closer to Alex. “I’m sorry.”

“Prove it.”

Hank pressed his lips up against his in a sweet kiss and that was all the proof Alex needed.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh Hank...


End file.
